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PUDR welcomes bail to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha / NAJ, DUJ, APWJF Welcome Bail

PUDR welcomes bail to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha / NAJ, DUJ, APWJF Welcome Bail

PUDR welcomes bail to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha

15/05/2024

pudr.org / by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

In the Bhima Koregaon case, with relief PUDR welcomes the Supreme Court order upholding regular bail for Gautam Navlakha, a well-known civil rights activist, author and journalist. The Bombay High Court had granted Navlakha bail on December 19, 2023, but the Court also stayed his release and gave three weeks to the NIA to appeal in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had extended the stay. On May 14, 2024, the Supreme Court ended the stay on bail, stating that Gautam Navlakha has spent over four years in custody, the charges are yet to be framed, and the trial would take several years to complete.
Read full statement

NAJ, DUJ, APWJF Welcome Bail to Journalists

15/05/2024

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

Three journalists’ unions have welcomed the bail given to journalists Prabir Purkayastha, Gautam Navlakha and Asif Sultan in three different UAPA cases. The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and the Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Federation (APWJF) in a joint statement hailing the bail orders warned against malicious prosecution and re-arrest of these journalists.
Read more

Video | Modi’s India a modern Indian fascism: Alpa Shah / Book excerpt: The Incarcerations

Video | Modi’s India a modern Indian fascism: Alpa Shah / Book excerpt: The Incarcerations

Modi’s India a modern Indian fascism: Alpa Shah, Professor of Social Anthropology

19/04/2024

The Wire / by Karan Thapar


en | 44:51 | 2024
One of British academias most highly regarded anthropologists has said “we need to call Modi’s India a modern Indian fascism”. Alpa Shah says: “Indian fascism may not be of the classic kind, whatever that is, but it’s fascism nevertheless.”
In a 40-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, to mark the launch of her book, ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India’, Alpa Shah, who is presently Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics but has just been announced as the new Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford University and a fellow of All Souls College, identified seven key characteristics of fascism each of which, it seems, applies almost fully to India under Narendra Modi. She, therefore, argues that terms like “majoritarianism or ethnic democracy or cultural nationalism” do not “convey the gravity of threat to democracy under way in India”.
Watch video

The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India by Alpa Shah

19/04/2024

Article14 / by Alpa Shah

… In The Incarcerations, professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics Alpa Shah now tells the chilling story of the Bhima-Koregaon case that transformed the 16 human rights defenders who were professors, lawyers, journalists and poets into alleged Maoist terrorists accused of waging a war against the Indian state and plotting to kill prime minister Narendra Modi.

Book excerpt
Only when the streets in Mumbai were deserted because of the Dalit protestors, did the conflict over the Bhima Koregaon British war memorial make it into international news, at The Guardian. In fact, the Indian broadsheets and mainstream TV mainly covered the events only when there was disruption in Mumbai, and then the focus of reporting was on mobs holding the city to ransom, not the casteist violence in Koregaon that they were protesting.
Read more

A new book recounts how 16 activists were imprisoned as terrorists, without trial

27/03/2024

Scroll.in / by Alpa Shah

An excerpt from ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India’
Amnesty International India and Oxfam India released a joint response the day Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Varavara Rao were arrested. “The nationwide crackdown on activists, advocates and human rights defenders is disturbing and threatens core human rights values.”
Read more

Space for Civil Society Groups, Fundamental Freedoms Shrank Further in Modi’s Second Term

Space for Civil Society Groups, Fundamental Freedoms Shrank Further in Modi’s Second Term

NewsClick / by Newsclick Report

The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space – the space for civil society – in India as “Repressed”.
… On human rights defenders, the report pointed how those critical of the government were implicated and jailed in “politically motivated cases under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terror law,”such as 16 activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, former JNU student Umar Khalid, student activist Gulfisha Fatima and several activists in Kashmir, such as Khurram Parvez, award-winning photojournalist Masrat Zahra, journalist Peerzada Ashiq among others,
Read more
Read full report: India – Fundamental Freedoms Deteriorate Further in Modi’s Second Term

Also read:
▪ India: Weaponizing Counterterrorism: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty International / Sep 2023)
▪ The Uses (and Abuses) of Investigative Agencies (The Wire / Nov 2022)
▪ India | Civicus Monitor Watchlist – Overview Of Recent Restrictions To Civic Freedoms (March 2022)
▪ AUTHORITIES HARASS AND SQUEEZE FUNDING OF NGOS WHILE ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS TARGETED IN INDIA (CIVICUS / Feb 2022)
▪ Maharashtra is adding activists to a secret list of the enemies of state (Newslaundry / July 2021)
▪ How Governments Avoid Due Process by Declaring Groups as ‘Front Organisations’ of Banned Entities (The Wire / Sep 2020)

Stay on bail for long period affects personal liberty and rights, feel experts / Status of the accused in BK case

Stay on bail for long period affects personal liberty and rights, feel experts / Status of the accused in BK case

Poster by #bakeryprasad

Stay on bail for long period affects personal liberty and rights, feel experts

09/04/2024

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Elgaar Parishad case accused Mahesh Raut and Gautam Navlakha remain in jail for over four months since grant of bail by the Bombay High Court.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activist and Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, arrested six years ago in the Elgaar Parishad case. Two of her co-accused Mahesh Raut and Gautam Navlakha who were granted bail six and four months ago, respectively, by the Bombay High Court, continue to remain in jail awaiting their bail hearings in the SC which has stayed their release till it hears appeals against their bail.
Read more

By @apeksha_9 (April 5):
Revolutionary Salutes to Prof. Shoma Sen! Free All the Activists wrongfully incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case. Repeal UAPA.

As Shoma Sen gets bail, what is the status of other accused in Elgaar Parishad case?

05/04/2024

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak, Omkar Gokhale

Eight accused, including prominent activists, lawyers, and academics, have now been given bail. Two of them are yet to be released from custody. The case dates back to the beginning of 2018, but the trial is yet to commence
… Among the 16 individuals arrested in the case, one – Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old-priest and tribal rights activist based in Jharkhand – passed away in custody in July 2021.
Before Sen, seven other accused have been given bail. Two of these eight accused, however, are yet to be released from custody because the NIA has appealed the High Court’s bail orders in the SC.
Read more

Thread by BehanBox / @BehanBox (Apr 5):

(1/5) Today the Supreme Court granted bail to women’s rights activist #ShomaSen, accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in the #BhimaKoregaon violence case. #bhimakoregaon
…
(5/5) 8 of the activists, namely Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Hany Babu, continue to languish in prison without trial.

Bhima Koregaon: The process continues to clot as punishment as another year passes by

01/01/2024

The Leaflet / Arif Ayaz Parrey, Sarah Thanawala

Many of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case have now spent one more year incarcerated without a trial. A far cry from the verbiage of high judicial officials that even a day’s denial of liberty is too much.
… Here is a recap of the major developments in the case this year, of bail applications granted, stayed and pending; the consistent pleas for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973; and the courts heeding to medical conditions-related pleas of the accused.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)

PUDR: Uphold Shoma Sen’s Bail Order – Release all Bhima Koregaon detainees!

PUDR: Uphold Shoma Sen’s Bail Order – Release all Bhima Koregaon detainees!

PUDR poster campaign, 2023.

pudr.org / by PUDR

PUDR expresses relief at the Supreme Court’s granting of bail to Prof. Shoma Sen on April 5, after nearly six long years of pre-trial incarceration. Charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the infamous Bhima Koregaon (BK) conspiracy case, Shoma Sen is the fourth accused to be released on ‘bail on merits’ by the Supreme Court, after Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions (PUDR / Aug 2023)
▪ Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! (PUDR / June 2023)
▪ Stop Denying Political Prisoners the Right to Healthcare in Jails (PUDR / Sep 2022)

Top Global Academics Flay Recent Pattern in India of Jailing Critics Without Trial

Top Global Academics Flay Recent Pattern in India of Jailing Critics Without Trial

Campaign poster, 2020

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has voiced his support for the statement – among whose authors is Amitav Ghosh – saying such imprisonment without trial was “certainly among the worst injustices that the country has made into a regular arrangement”.
Sixteen prominent academics released a statement expressing concern over the prolonged detention without trial of writers, journalists and activists who were critical of the Union government.
Read more / read the full text of the two statements

New Book on Bhima Koregaon Case Tells Uncomfortable Truths, But Brings Hope / Book launch

New Book on Bhima Koregaon Case Tells Uncomfortable Truths, But Brings Hope / Book launch

New Book on Bhima Koregaon Case Tells Uncomfortable Truths, But Brings Hope

31/04/2024

The Quint / by Mekhala Saran

Alpa Shah’s book, ‘The Incarcerations’, is alive with stories of fearlessness, but also of the cost it extracts.

“Well, I am off to NIA custody and do not know when I shall be able to talk to you again. However, I earnestly hope that you will speak out before your turn comes.”

– Anand Teltumbde, on the eve of his incarceration in April 2020

Alpa Shah’s book on the Bhima Koregaon incarcerations is not an easy read. When I first decided to review the book – before laying my hands on it – I thought it would not take me longer than a week.
Read more

A new book recounts how 16 activists were imprisoned as terrorists, without trial

27/03/2024

Scroll.in / by Alpa Shah

An excerpt from ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India’
Amnesty International India and Oxfam India released a joint response the day Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Varavara Rao were arrested. “The nationwide crackdown on activists, advocates and human rights defenders is disturbing and threatens core human rights values.”
Read more

by Shireen Azam / @shireenazam (March 26:)
A full full house at @LSEpublicevents for the book release of (Bhima Koregaon) Incarcerations by @alpashah001

Video| Book launch/discussion: The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the search for democracy in India

26/03/2024

Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute, LSE Human Rights, Department of Anthropology and Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity

IN-PERSON AND ONLINE PUBLIC EVENT

Speakers:
Professor Alpa Shah.
Discussants: Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, Professor Tarun Khaitan and Priyanka Kotamraju
Chair: Professor Deborah James

Join us to launch and discuss Alpa Shah’s new book, The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the search for democracy in India.
As general elections fast approach in the world’s largest democracy, this event asks what democracy today must urgently ensure for our common future. In her latest book, Alpa Shah pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) – professors, lawyers, artists – have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists.
Read more

Watch on LSE’s YouTube channel.

Interview | Alpa Shah: India is not a safe place any more

23/03/2024

The News Statesman / by  Gavin Jacobson

Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacism is capturing major state institutions while repressing minority groups and political activists.
… Shah exposes how the state engaged in a prolonged act of cyberwar against the so-called “BK-16”, hacking their emails and implanting incriminating evidence on their computers in order to prosecute them. It is the best book I’ve read about the full-scale assault on democracy in India, and with the general elections scheduled to conclude in June, it’s essential reading for an understanding of what is happening to the country right now.
On 18 March I met Shah at her office at the London School of Economics.

Gavin Jacobson: When did you decide to write a book about the BK-16?
Read more

Hackers-for-Hire, Govt’s Media Control: Seven Takeaways From Studying the Arrests of the BK-16

15/03/2024

The Wire / by Alpa Shah

“…the evidence used to incarcerate the BK-16 was likely to have been implanted remotely through a hacker-for-hire mercenary gang infrastructure that has clients all over the world, but whose epicentre is in India.”
Excerpted with permission from Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India, HarperCollins 2024.
Read more

Hacker-for-hire gang with links to Pune police planted emails on the computers of Bhima Koregaon accused: new book

14/03/2024

The Hindu / by Vijaita Singh

The mercenary hacker gang, headquartered in India, remotely implanted evidence, according to LSE professor’s book; cites cybersecurity researchers to claim gang’s connection to a Pune police officer
The alleged evidence used to incarcerate 16 people in the Bhima Koregaon case was “likely to have been implanted remotely through a hacker-for-hire mercenary gang infrastructure that has clients all over the world, but whose epicentre is in India,” according to claims made in a new book.
Read more

The arrests putting Narendra Modi’s ‘fascist’ India on trial

14/03/2024

The Telegraph / by Andrew Whitehead

Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest, died in custody in India in July 2021. He was 84. He had spent nine months in detention and had been repeatedly denied bail; yet he had not been convicted of any offence.
… Alpa Shah, an anthropology professor at the London School of Economics, argues in The Incarcerations that the arrest of Swamy and 15 others – lawyers, academics, poets, activists – in what has become known as the “BK case” reveals India’s authoritarian creep.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

UAPA should be scrapped as 97 percent accused are aquitted, says Prof. Haragopal

UAPA should be scrapped as 97 percent accused are aquitted, says Prof. Haragopal

The Hindu / by Rajulapudi Srinivas

Calling UAPA ‘undemocratic’, the human rights activist says the State is leaning towards implementing more oppressive and repressive laws
“A person suffers in jail for three to four years and then gets acquitted after the prosecution fails to prove his guilt. This is happening in many cases now. About 97 percent of the arrests were made without any evidence, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) cases,” said G. Haragopal, human rights activists and retired professor from the University of Hyderabad.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

03/01/2024

SabrangIndia / by SabrangIndia

The open letter has alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
…
Text of the Open Letter:

To D.Y. Chandrachud,
The Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court of India
2nd January 2024

Dear Justice Chandrachud,

We write this letter to you as a members of democratic-minded civil society and activists who are working on issues concerning democratic ethos of the people and the protection of their civic, democratic, and constitutional rights.
Read more / full letter

Open letter from civil rights activists to CJI Chandrachud on freedom curbs

03/01/2024

The Telegraph online / by R. Balaji

The letter alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
A group of civil rights activists and organisations on Tuesday wrote an “open letter” to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on the alleged suppression of free speech, peaceful protests and rallies by police, leading to the stifling of democratic dissent in the country.
Read more

Open Letter to CJI Chandrachud highlights Concerns Over Erosion of Democratic Rights

03/01/2024

The Mooknayak / by The Mooknayak English

The letter questions India’s commitment to being the world’s largest democracy and refers to the words of jurist John Rawls, stressing the importance of justice and the need to reform or abolish unjust laws and institutions. The plea is for the judiciary to uphold equal liberties and protect rights secured by justice, emphasizing that such rights should not be subject to political bargaining or social interests.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon: The process continues to clot as punishment as another year passes by

Bhima Koregaon: The process continues to clot as punishment as another year passes by

Poster by #bakeryprasad

The Leaflet / by Ayaz Parrey and Sarah Thanawala

Many of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case have now spent one more year incarcerated without a trial. A far cry from the verbiage of high judicial officials that even a day’s denial of liberty is too much.
… Here is a recap of the major developments in the case this year, of bail applications granted, stayed and pending; the consistent pleas for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973; and the courts heeding to medical conditions-related pleas of the accused.
Read more